Midway through the third quarter Friday night, Kevin Durant stopped four feet behind the three-point arc. The four-time NBA scoring champion corralled a pass from Stephen Curry, hoisted his shot before his defender could recover and sent a capacity Oracle Arena crowd of 19,596 into an uproar.
Durant, straight-faced, started running back on defense as the Trail Blazers — down 15 points to a team stocked with All-Stars — called for time to stop the bleeding. It was a sequence that, for any other franchise, might have been the highlight of the game.